S.F. mayor backs stricter ban on plastic bags

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

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San Francisco China Town shoppers fill their bags as they roam through the business district Tuesday December 6, 2011. San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday on whether to make stores and restaurants start charging customers 10 cents for every bag handed out at the checkout counter. Exceptions will be made for frozen food, meat and fish, flowers and plants, unwrapped prepared foods or bakery goods. Otherwise, bags for everything else, from a carton of milk to a paperback book, will start costing. less

San Francisco China Town shoppers fill their bags as they roam through the business district Tuesday December 6, 2011. San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday on whether to make stores and restaurants ... more

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

Image 2 of 3

San Francisco China Town shoppers fill their bags as they roam through the business district Tuesday December 6, 2011. San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday on whether to make stores and restaurants start charging customers 10 cents for every bag handed out at the checkout counter. Exceptions will be made for frozen food, meat and fish, flowers and plants, unwrapped prepared foods or bakery goods. Otherwise, bags for everything else, from a carton of milk to a paperback book, will start costing. less

San Francisco China Town shoppers fill their bags as they roam through the business district Tuesday December 6, 2011. San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday on whether to make stores and restaurants ... more

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

Image 3 of 3

San Francisco China Town shoppers cross Broadway as they fill their bags in the business district Tuesday December 6, 2011. San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday on whether to make stores and restaurants start charging customers 10 cents for every bag handed out at the checkout counter. Exceptions will be made for frozen food, meat and fish, flowers and plants, unwrapped prepared foods or bakery goods. Otherwise, bags for everything else, from a carton of milk to a paperback book, will start costing. less

San Francisco China Town shoppers cross Broadway as they fill their bags in the business district Tuesday December 6, 2011. San Francisco Board of Supervisors voted Tuesday on whether to make stores and ... more

Photo: Lance Iversen, The Chronicle

S.F. mayor backs stricter ban on plastic bags

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The proposal to expand San Francisco's ban on plastic bags and to impose a 10-cent charge on all other bags handed out at the checkout stand or takeout counter now has Mayor Ed Lee's firm backing, all but assuring strong support for the proposal at the Board of Supervisors today.

San Jose, Santa Cruz, the District of Columbia, Taiwan and Ireland have enacted similar polices.

Now San Francisco, which passed the first - but limited - plastic bag ban in the nation, can play catch-up.

"The complete ban on plastic bags I do support; I support it for all the environmental reasons," Lee said Monday.

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The goal is to get shoppers to stop using single-use bags, which pollute the bay and ocean, clog sewers and recycling machines, harm wildlife, and add waste to the landfill.

The proposal calls for extending the city's 2007 ban on plastic bags beyond large grocery stores and chain pharmacies to gift shops, hardware stores, boutiques and all other retailers in October, and to all restaurants next year.

It also would require businesses to charge a dime for all other bags - recyclable paper bags, compostable bags and reusable bags - they provide. The businesses would get to pocket the money.

Supervisors were expected to adopt the expanded ban last year, but delayed their vote after hearing concerns from small businesses.

Shopkeepers and restaurateurs in Chinatown, the Tenderloin and the Richmond led the charge, arguing that the tougher policy would drive away customers with higher costs and give fuel to critics who say San Francisco's nanny-state politics are bad for business.

In response, Department of the Environment staff and elected officials have been meeting frequently with business owners and managers to explain details of the proposal, and the mayor promised that initially education would be emphasized over enforcement. He and several supervisors said Monday they are committed to modifications if the law wasn't working as intended.

Stores that don't comply with the law would be fined $100 for the first infraction, $200 for the second and $500 each time after that. The Department of the Environment would oversee enforcement.

The proposed law includes exemptions from the surcharge and from the ban on plastic for bags used to hold such goods as loose nails, dry cleaning, bulk candy and nuts, fresh flowers, meat and fish.

Board of Supervisors President David Chiu plans to offer an amendment today to expand the exemption to include bags for things that don't fit in traditional reusable bags, such as pillows and large pieces of artwork.

Tony Liu, who owns four Chinatown shops that cater largely to tourists, said he still worries that the 10-cent fee may turn off his customers. When the economy was strong, he said, people rarely balked at impulse buys. "Things are different now."

But as environmental awareness grows and more cities adopt bag bans and fees, public behavior will change, Lee said.

"The intent was never to nickel or dime anybody," the mayor said. "But if it takes 10 cents to remind somebody that their habits are in their control, I think that's something we're willing to consider doing."

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